5:30pm Queer and Monstrous

March 15, 2017 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm

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The concept of a monster is something that is held at the intersection of many discourses. It’s weaved its way through cultural history through many folklores, mythologies and legends. According to Rosi Braidotti:

“The peculiarity of the […] monster is that s/he is both Same and Other. The monster is neither a total stranger or completely familiar; s/he exists in an in-between zone. I would express this as a paradox: the monstrous other is both liminal and structurally central to our perception of normal human subjectivity.”

Although there are multiple imaginations of a “monster;” it is always a coded sign of difference and a containment of fear-inducing qualities. In a way by transgressing certain boundaries, monsters queer the notion of identity. This reading group looks four novels to discuss how the concept of monstrosity intersect with queerness and queer theory.